| #680 |
|
2003 |
Perilous 680 Exciting news, Buck65 has been finally locked down for a December 9 show in Sydney at the Basement. This Canadian rapper who has been spending a lot of time recently in Paris recording his latest album, Talkin’ Honky Blues (thru Warners), is a veteran of seven albums but only with his latest has he had the opportunity to spend a proper length of time re-writing and producing. Deep down Buck65 is pretty conservative when it comes to hip hop. A vinyl purist he riles against reissues and on this album he bemoans modern hip hop in a track that takes the art of shoe-shining as a metaphor for hip hop. Slightly paradoxically, Buck65 has strayed further from ‘real hip hop’ with each release. So by Talkin Honky Blues what is left is much closer to the late Johnny Cash (who gets name checked on the first single), or a Carny-era Nick Cave (1985-7), and folk/country storytelling than any hip hop reference points. And this is a good thing. It is almost as if Buck65 is rhyming about a parallel universe set somewhere in a mythical road movie midwest. The album’s through thread – seven vignettes of riverside life titled Riverbed – is the key to the records, providing a strong narrative against which several minor themes play. His live show should be excellent and comes straight from a multitude of live shows in the UK and Europe. Equally fine is the latest album from Elefant Traks, and their first licensing deal – boldly released into the Christmas vortex of new trash vs old trash (Britney vs Madonna anyone?). Some of you may remember Dana Diaz-Tutaan from the mid 90s when she was still residing in Sydney and hanging with Metabass & Breath and that whole mid-90s Sydney hip hop scene which was exploding with new directions and wild creativity. Then she jetted off to New York. Her new group is called Apsci, as in Applied Science, kind of a neat name (although I reckon it should have been Apshai after the early 80s trilogy of games on Epyx . . .but that’s just me), and features Dana on vocals alongside Ra La Motta and cuts from Def Jux DJ Big Wiz, as well as guest spots from Antibalas and Mike Ladd. Titled Get It Twisted, it is a strange blast into a world of mutant electro and hip hop – kind of the record I think Mike Ladd and El-P might wish they’d made – sufficiently futuristic and edgy, but grounded by Dana’s amazing operatic vocals. The pick of the tracks are the opener Tirade Highway and Pep Rally which turbocharge beats which flick and jerk, bleep and blurt offset by some lovely vocal flows. Apsci will be out here this summer to promote the record so keep an ear for them. Keep an eye out for the new Cyclic Defrost as well. Its got interviews with Melbourne producers Qua and Adam Fisher aka 8-Bit both of whom have new material out now or shortly on Surgery and Bug respectively; Canberra/Sydney duo Dark Network; Brisbane via Japan artist John Chantler whose Monoke album on Room40 is a hidden gem worth tracking down, and Sydney's Robokoneko who is also amongst those with a new album. There’s a cover by Techa Noble whose work with her group The Kingpins you may have been stunned by at Primavera at the MCA recently (the Starbucks hair metal invasion . . . ), and a free cover CD courtesy of Noise and SBS Alchemy. You find Cyclic lurking at an independent record store near you. Otherwise, check out Motormowf on the 16th at the Hopetoun for some live MC action hosted by Urthboy and then Prince Valium and Sir Robbo’s reggae rewind called Satta on the 23rd. Yellow Peril (www.snarl.org)  Goto
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